Who's Who in the Roman World - John Hazel


Who's Who in the Roman World
John Hazel
Routledge Publishers
ISBN: 0415291623 (Amazon link)


Not really much point reviewing this really, other than to note that it delivers exactly what the title promises, everyone from Accius to Zenobia.

This is very much a niche title, but is very handy to have on the shelf if you read a lot of Roman history or historical fiction. As a Carthaginian character noted in John Maddox Robert's Hannibal's Children, the Romans were very fond of reusing a famous name, never mind how confusing it would be for anyone else! It's also very useful for those times when you're not quite sure how much of an author's plot is fact and how much fiction... Steven Saylor is my favourite at this game.

Unusually for a reference book, the appendices are just as useful as the main text, containing a detailed timeline, a list of emperors and, most useful to me, period maps. I can never keep the eastern provinces straight in my head, and mentally free associating Cappadocia with Cappuccino some years ago hasn't helped at all.

Posted: Sat - March 6, 2004 at 12:33 AM        


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